To see a group of
Jain nuns pass by is awe-inspiring. Barefoot, clad simply in a pure white
garment, white garment, with a gentle demeanor but firm in following a
noble but arduous code of conduct, the order of nuns(sadhivs) has been
a major source of inspiration for Jain shravakas throughout the centuries.
They are following in the footsteps of the first nun, Aryika Chandana.

Over 25 centuries
ago, Lord Mahavira, having established the final Tirtha of this declining
era, attained Moksha in 599 BC. The Kalpa Sutra mentions that at that time
Mahavira’s Sangha consisted of 14,000 monks,36,000 nuns,159,000 shravakas
and 318,000 shavikas. Able Aryika Chandana, who was also known as Chandanabala,
led the congregation of nuns.

Chandana was born
into a royal family. Tragically, as the result of a war, she was taken
into slavery and sold. She was purchased by Seth Dhanadatta for use as
a domestic servant. When the seth’s wife saw Dhanadatta treat his
slave kindly, she became jealous of the beautiful Chandana. While Dhanadatta
was away, she had Chandana’s head shaved and her legs chained to the door
of her slave quarters where she cried in anguish for days. When hungry,
she was given half-cooked lentils (urd) in a flimsy bamboo container used
for winnowing grain called a supa. Chance awaited her in this miserable
condition.

Lord Mahavira was
a Jain monk, and Jain monks may often take a vow to accept food only when
it is possible to observe a set of pre-determined special conditions. The
practice originates with Mahavira himself. A few months before he attained
Keval Jnan, continuously fast until offered food by only that individual
who met 10 untold and seemingly impossible conditions. He would accept
(1)only urad lentils,(2) offered in a winnowing basket, (3) given by a
person standing sideways with one foot on the threshold of a dwelling
place and the other foot outside, (4) who was a princess turned in to a
slave, (5) who had a shaven head, and (6) whose legs were bound by chains.
She had to be (7) a chaste woman, (8) at the time performing the penances
of attham (3 days’s fast), and would serve him (9) only after all other
mendicants had rejected her food offering, (10) with tears in her eyes.

Many would have cherished
the honor of giving food to Mahavira. Five months and 28 days lapsed, and
no donor fulfilled his secret conditions. But Chandana, a princes sold
as a slave, shackled and humiliated by the jealous wife of a depraved merchant,
fulfilled his secret conditions. But Chandana, a princess sold as a slave,
shackled and humiliated by the jealous wife of a depraved merchant, fulfilled
all the other conditions except weeping. As Mahavira passed by, he turned
his face away at the last moment without accepting her humble alms. Already
tormented and abused, Chandana began to cry.

And thus the final
condition was met. To the amazement of onlookers including her captors,
in his bare palms Mahavira accepted the food Chandana offered from her
simple winnowing basket, breaking his six-month fast with a small handful
of the rough slave fodder that Chandana had been living on for weeks. Chandana
was released and she joined Lord Mahavira’s monastic order. She thus became
the first nun of the Mahaviran Jain tradition and eventually the leader
of thousandsof Aryikas.

The significance
of Chandana’s leadership may be judged by comparing the order of
Jain nuns with the Buddhist nun. Buddha agreed to ordain nuns only after
considerable hesitation and persistent pressure from his aunt.Within a
few centuries of Buddhist nuns was completely done away with in the Theravada
sect. Some scholars believe this lack of female leadership contributed
significantly to Buddhism’s eventual extinction in India.

Thousands of jain
nuns today walk all over India and now travel the world, presenting
the message of Lord Mahavira and following the path of Aryika Chandana.

ARCHARYA
BHADRABAHU -I
Leader of the undivided Sangha

Today, most Jains
adhere to either of two great traditions: Digambar or Shvetambar. But in
antiquity there was only one Jain tradition, and a man named Bhadrabahu
holds the distinction of having been the leader of the undivided Sangha.

Teacher - student
lineages recorded separately by both the Shvetambar and Digambar traditions
join each other when they are traced back to Bhadrabahu, the very last
individual to have attained the state of Shrut Kevalin, an authority on
the 14 original Purva texts handed down from Mahavira’s own times.

The teachings of
omniscient Lord Mahavira were compiled 12 Anga text and 14 Purvas. The
Purvas were regarded as part of the twelfth Anga, entitled Drishtivada.
These texts were passed down from teacher to student by a well-regulated
system of oral tradition and mnemonics. Teacher recited them and students
memorized them. All Jain principles are based on these texts. After Lord
Jambu (fifth century BC) who, in all time since, would be the last human
being to achieve omniscience, Jain monks and scholars were guided only
by these texts. Those who knew all of these texts are called Shrut Kevalins,
indicating that although they did not have full and total Keval Jnan through
those texts.As already mentioned, Acharya Bhadrabahu was simply the last
Shrut Kevalin. Since there have been other Jain acharyas with the name
Bhadrabahu , he is sometimes referred to as Bhadrabahu I.

Bhadrabahu was born
at Pundravardhan, now in Bangladesh. During his time, the secondary capital
of the Mauryans was the city of Ujjain. While there Bhadrabahu was able
to perceive through is nimitta jnan (subtle cognition of causes andeffects)
that there would occur a 12-year famine across North India. He decided
the famine would make it harder for monks to survive as it would naturally
make them a burden on a society already in need. He thus migrated with
a group of monks to South India bringing with him Chandragupta, the aging
founder of the Mauryan Empire turned Jain monk. While Bhadrabahu
was away the remaining monks in the North realized that the sacred scriptures
were being forgotten. A monk named Sthulabhadra convened a ouncil to recompile
the Purva scriptures. However, because Sthulabhadra’s own knowledge of
these texts was imperfect, he wanted Bhadrabahu to study the sections missing
from his memory. Bhadrabahu taught Sthulabhadra, but forbade him
to teach the Purvaa to others upon witnessing a demonstration by Sthulabhadra
of certain extra corporal powers, which indicated that with time these
sacred scriptures would become corrupted. Thus, the 14 Purvas in their
original form died with these two men.

Bhadrabahu
remains an exemplar of dedication to first principles at any cost.After
him, the Sangha split into two separate teacher-student lineages of monks.Digambar
monks belong to the lineage of Acharya Vishakha and Shvetambar monks follow
the tradition of Sthulabhadra. Bhadrabahu composed some new texts as well.
In the Shvetambar tradition, Brihatkalpa, Vyavahara, and Nisitha are considered
his works.

ARCHARYA
KUNDAKUNDA
Great organizer of highly complex ideas

In the southern state
of Tamil Nadu, atop a hill known as Ponnur Malai, on a large stone under
a certain champa tree pilgrims may come across an engravedpair of stylized
footprints (charan). These footprints are symbolic of a thinker who, nearly
tow millennia ago composed some of the most influential philosophical books
in world history. Some scholars from generations since then remember the
exact day of their first encounter with his spiritual masterpiece, the
Samaya Sara.

Among the most
famous of all Jain acharyas, Kundakunda, the celebrated author of the four
renowned books Samaya Sara (Treatise of the True Self), Pravachana Sara
(Treatise of Lectures), Niyama Sara (Treatise on Pure Rules), Panchastikaya
Sara (Treatise on Five Universal Components) and Ashta Pahuda (Eight Steps),
which is a collection eight texts. All his works are written in a Jain
dialect known as Shourseni Prakrit. The organization of Jain ideas into
certain relationships and structures taken for granted in more recent centuries
was ultimately a product of his genius. Such has been his fame since early
items, that many other books actually written by his pupils and others
are popularly ascribed to him. In the Digambar tradition he is named immediately
after Lord Mahavira and the preceptor Indrabhuti Goutam in the Mangalacharana
(auspiciousblessing) prayer,
and Jains of the Digambar tradition dub their tradition Kundakund-anvaya
(the order of Kundakunda). However, scholars of all sects study his
books with deep veneration.

He was born
around the beginning of the first century AD in South India in a place
becoming a Jain monk was Padmanandi, but he is better known by the place
of his origin. Kundakunda mentions that he was an intellectual descendant
of Bhadrabahu I, the last Shrut Kevalin. Kundakunda belonged to an ancient
order called the Nandi Sangha, wherein most monks assumed names ending
in ‘nandi’. The Punyashrava Katha Kosh mentions that in his previous life,
Kundakunda was a cow-herder who had found and preserved ancient texts and
was blessed by a wandering monk. Acharya Kundakunda’s intense learning
and moral character attracted royal disciples such as King Shivakumar.
The story of Kundakunda is also surrounded buy legend- it is even said
he could walk in air.

Kundakunda’s influence
extends far beyond Jainism. India has always been a land where philosophical
debate is a standard feature of intellectual life. The concise and systematized
aphorismic forms he brought to Jain literature and the literary structures
in which he explained Jainism’s most advanced scientific principles relating
to such area as atomic structure, cosmic dimensions, the cosmic ethers,
and psychology, rivaled anything produced up to that time anywhere in the
world. Hindu and Buddhist thinkers were put to the task of finding ways
to respond to his explications of Jain philosophy and conduct, and he thus
set unprecedented levels of erudition and rationalism in India’s overall
philosophical discourse which would last through modern times.

Out of enthusiastic
respect, Acharya Kundakunda has been called “Light of this Dark Age”. Several
commentaries on his Samaya Sara have been written in Sanskrit and modern
languages. In more recent centrues, the Samaya Sara had greatly moved leaders
and scholars like Banarasi Das, Taran Svami, Shrimad Rajachandra andKanaji Swami.

Taran-swami
and his Taran-panth

The 15-16th century
was an age of transition in India.During this time several reform movements
arose in Jainism. Lonkashah of Gujarat founded his Dhundhiaorder in Sam
1508 (1451 AD), The Terapanth (Atyadhmamovement) among the Digambaras arose
in Sam. 1683 in Agra. The main founders of this movement were BanarasiDas
of Agra and Amarchand of Sanganer. Taran-swami inBundelkhand [1] founded
his Taranpanth sect of theDigambaras in Sam. 1563 (1506).

The Digambra Terapanth
movement was againt thedomination of the Bhattarakas. They opposed worship
ofvarious minor gods and goddesses. Some Terapanthipractices, like not
using flowers in worship, graduallyspreadthroughout North India among the
Digambaras. The Taran-panthis on the other hand, traditionally donot have
idolsin their shrines
at all.Taranswami was a remarkable philosopher and author. Hewas born in
Pushpavati (now Bilahari near Katni). Hisfather was a government officail
there. His mama(uncle) lived in Sironj, where a Bhattaraka institution
was present. When he was 8 years old, whileaccompanying his father to Sironj,
he came across Bhattarak Shruta-kirti[2]. The Bhattarak persuaded theboy
to start attending the lectures where "Samayasar"was discussed. Later Taran-swami
organized his group atmeditated and preached at Semalkheri, Sukha andRakh.His
samadhi is at Nisaiji in Dist Guna.

He wrote 14 books.
His language is very unique, being ablend of Prakrit, Sanskrit and Apabhransha.
Note thatat this time Jains have not been using Prakit forseveral centuries.
His language was perhaps influencedby his reading of the books of Acharya
kundakunda.Copies of his books are very hard to obtain. I thinkKanjiswami
has somelectures based on
Taranswami'sbooks.

The number of Taranpanthis
is very small. Their shrinesare called Chaityalya (or some times Nisai/Nasia[3]).At
the altar (vimana) they have a book instead of anidol. The Taranpanthis
were originally from 6communities. These days they are gradually mergingwith
other Jain in the area. In recent past, some ofthem have been followers
ofKanjiswami of Songarh.

One interesting note.
Rajneesh/Osho was born in aTaranpanthi family.

Notes

[1] Bundelkhand region
is Lalitpur (UP), Guna, Sagar,Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Damoh districts and
nearby region.The Taranpanthis are mainly found here.[2] This Shrutakirti
may be the same one who wroteDharma-Pariksha, arivansha-purana and Parameshthisarin
Apabhramsha. His teacher's teacher was Devendrakirti who originated from
Gujarat and hadplaced his students at the Bhattarak seats of Surat aswell
as Chanderi in Bundelkhand region.[3] The term Nasia
for a temple may have been derived from the practice of saying "Jay jay
jay,nisahi, nisahi, nisahi" when one enters a temple.

Rajendra Suri

Abhidhana-Rajendra
Kosh (Encyclopedia) was a outstanding achievement of the 19th century.
It has become an inspiration and an example for Jain encyclopedia efforts
in our time.

This text is widely
consulted by Jain scholars. Ordinary Jains may not come across it, but
it has significantly influenced study of Jainism.

The author, Rajendra
Suri, belonged to the Tristutik (or Agamik) sect of the Svetambaras,
originated by Shilaguna and Devabhadra Suri in 1193 AD. It is a small
sect that is opposed to worship of minor gods etc.

He was born as Ratna
Raj Parakh on VS 1833 (3rd December, 1827) in Bharatpur. He became
a trader with his brother and lived in Srilanka for a while. He became
a yati under Hemavijayaji at Udaipur in 1846 (vs1925). He became a reformer
against the traditional life of many yatis then (use of chanwar, palkhi
etc )and gave up the "daftari" title.

He finished is Abhidhan-Rajendra
Kosh, in vs1960. It was published in 9200 pages in 7 volumes. It took 13
years to write and 21 years to publish. He also wrote 13 other major texts.
He passed away in Mohankhera (Rajagarha) in vs1963, on the same thithi
he was born (paush shukla 7th). This day is celebrated as Guru Saptami
by the Tristutik sect.

Mohankheda has become
a tirtha because of the presence of Acharya Rajendra Suriji since
vs 1940. He was also associated with Mandava, Svarnagiri, Talanapur tirthas.